A Guide To Yoga With Your Child: 15 Fun & Simple Minutes To Bring You Closer Together
Oct 26, 2018 by apost team
When you have children, it seems impossible to get anything done alone. From washing the dishes to making dinner, you suddenly have a helper who wants to do everything with you. Luckily, you can use this situation for your advantage. When you do yoga, you can bring your child along with you.
Yoga is amazing for your physical and mental health. It can help to calm children down and build their muscles. Instead of trying and failing to do yoga alone, make a goal of doing yoga for 15 minutes a day with your child. It will become a special time where you can relax and share an experience with your little one.
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How to Practice Yoga With Your Child in 15 Minutes
Be patient when you first start out. Children naturally get used to routines, but it can take some time before they adjust to daily yoga sessions. It helps if you do the same poses in the same order. This will help your child catch on and know what is going to happen next.
Children also tend to lose interest quickly, so do not be worried if your child does not become a yogi on the first day. Let them bring along a favorite toy that can do yoga with them. Over time, your child will gradually get used to doing yoga and will want to take part in your daily session.
Before long, you can enjoy that gentle, rejuvenated feeling of having a daily yoga practice. More importantly, you will give your child a way to stay healthy for the rest of their life.
The Basic Series for Yoga With Children
Begin by doing some deep, calming breaths. This helps your child transition from other activities to doing yoga. Once you and your child are relaxed, go through the following poses together.
Downward Facing Dog
Cobra Pose
Tree Pose
Handstands against the wall
Child Pose
Corpse Pose
Try to set a goal of doing these poses each day. There will always be more dishes to do and laundry to finish. You can do the chores later, but these 15 minutes with your child will become the special moment you two share each day.
Ways to Make Yoga Easier With Children
The hardest part is the beginning of your new yoga practice. Your child is just getting used to the routine, so it will be harder for them to focus. You can make this transition easier on yourself by adopting a few simple changes in your yoga practice.
1. Embrace Creativity
When you are a few years old, alignments are not as important as they are for adults. Allow your child to be creative and experiment with the poses. Some children like to connect the poses to different animals.
2. Exercise Caution
This is a fairly obvious rule. Avoid doing poses that could cause you to fall on your child. You can readjust poses like this to make them safer. Instead of doing a handstand in the center of the room, try doing it against the wall.
3. Give Your Child a Mat
Children love being just like mom or dad. Give your child a mat to use for yoga.
4. Be Consistent
Children generally like having a routine. They like knowing what will come next. You can make your daily session easier by doing the same poses each day in the same order.
5. Start Slowly
Start your session by breathing together. Allow your child to gradually calm down and transition to another yoga session.
6. Snack Time
Make sure that you take care of your budding yogi with a post-session snack and some water. Your little one may also like to read a book or have a moment of quiet time to transition from yoga to normal life again.
istockphoto.com/RichVintageIf you already do yoga with your child, let us know about it! Also, make sure your friends know how to get their children involved in yoga - it can be such a rewarding experience!
Our content is created to the best of our knowledge, yet it is of general nature and cannot in any way substitute an individual consultation by your doctor. Your health is important to us!